News Release
Spinal Restoration, Inc Closes $16 Million Series B Financing
Santé Health Ventures and MB Venture Partners Join Prior Investors
Austin, TX - October 9, 2007
Spinal Restoration, Inc., a privately held spine company based in
Austin, announced today that it has closed a $16 million Series B round
of equity financing. Santé Health Ventures and MB Venture Partners
joined Series A lead and founding investors Austin Ventures and Path4
Ventures in the round. Spinal Restoration will utilize the funds to
complete an IDE clinical trial of the Biostat™ Disc Augmentation System,
a new minimally invasive, biologic treatment for discogenic low back
pain.
“We continue to be very impressed with the local management team at
Spinal Restoration as well as the ground breaking technology being
developed to help restore patients’ lives,” commented Joe Aragona,
General Partner, Austin Ventures.
Spinal Restoration estimates that more than 1 million patients suffer from chronic discogenic low back pain each year; yet, there is no widely accepted treatment for discogenic pain outside of spinal fusion. “Spinal Restoration has captured a unique solution to an enormous unmet need within the spine health market which offers a very attractive investment opportunity” says Gary Stevenson, Managing Partner of MB Venture Partners.
Kevin Lalande, Managing Partner for Santé Health Ventures, and Mr. Stevenson will join the company's Board of Directors. Mr. Lalande adds, “Spinal Restoration has made significant progress toward initiating its IDE clinical trial. The founders of Santé Health Ventures have followed this company since inception and we are pleased to have the opportunity to become an investment partner.”
Gary Sabins, President and CEO of Spinal Restoration closes by saying, “The founders of Santé Health Ventures have deep healthcare investment experience and we are honored that they have chosen to lead this financing round. MB Venture Partners brings highly focused investment expertise in the musculoskeletal medical device and biotechnology areas making them an ideal investment partner at our current stage. The addition of these two very experienced healthcare investment firms to our highly regarded original investment partners is testament to the progress achieved by the company and the unique investment opportunity Spinal Restoration represents.”
About Spinal Restoration
Spinal Restoration restores patients’ lives by delivering new therapies
that address unmet needs in spine health management. These therapies are
minimally invasive, early interventions with clinically proven results.
The company is working with a diverse, highly regarded group of clinical
and scientific advisors to develop the Biostat™ Disc Augmentation
System, a proprietary resorbable biologic and delivery system for the
treatment of chronic disc pain.
About Santé Health Ventures
Santé Health Ventures is a new venture capital firm founded in 2006 by a
group of partners with deep healthcare investment and operations
experience. In addition to capital, the firm provides its portfolio
executives with additional healthcare domain expertise, an extensive
network of relationships and singular industry focus. Santé invests
exclusively in early-stage medical technology, healthcare services and
healthcare IT companies. Visit
www.santeventures.com for more information.
About MB Venture Partners
MB Venture Partners is a Memphis, Tennessee venture capital firm that
provides venture capital and strategic direction to life sciences
companies. The Firm
invests in medical device and biotech companies at various stages of
development and is especially interested in product solutions for
musculoskeletal disease. The Firm’s portfolio of healthcare investments
includes GTx (NASDAQ: GTXI), BioMimetic Therapeutics (NASDAQ: BMTI),
AxioMed Spine Corporation, KFx Medical, Anulex Technologies, Cayenne
Medical and Applied Spine Technologies. Visit
www.mbventures.com for more information.
About Austin Ventures
Austin Ventures has been working with talented entrepreneurs to build
valuable companies since 1979. With $3 billion under management, AV is
the most active venture capital firm in Texas, and one of the most
established in the nation. With a focus on business services,
information services, computer and communications hardware, and
enterprise software, Austin Ventures invests at all stages of company
development, from $100,000 "planned experiments" to $50+ million
investments in management buyouts. Visit
www.austinventures.com for more information.
About Path4 Ventures
Founded in 2004, Path4 Ventures LLC is a management-centric venture
capital company based in Austin, Texas. The company identifies, creates
and develops opportunities in the healthcare industry utilizing a
"hands-on" management style by taking an active role in the technologies
and opportunities in which it invests. Visit
www.path4.com for more information.
Company Contact:
Gary Sabins – President and CEO
512.225.0405
garysabins@spinalrestoration.com